Amethyst, Diamond & Emerald Blog - Friday 17th December 2021

 Happy Friday, everybody! What a week it has been! It was always our goal that, if we got to half term and all was well, we would make it our aim to welcome you all in to watch our Christmas Production. There were a few twists and turns in the road towards this but to finally have managed to do this is something all the children and staff are very proud of.

We were able to share our performance with all the other children in the school too, showing it over the course of three days to Early Years, Year 3/4 and Year 5/6. It was a lovely end to our year and felt like a true step in the direction of being back to normal.

We are very sorry to the children who missed the performances due to illness but you all contributed hugely in the preparation and practising of the show so a big thank you to ALL the children - you are stars.

Finally, thank you to YOU for coming and supporting us, laughing at the jokes and all your warm applause. Hopefully this has set you up for a wonderful Christmas together.

Christmas Holidays

We wish you all a restful and happy Christmas break. We are very mindful that the children are very tired and we have been extremely impressed with how hard they have worked this term. To this end, we are not setting any homework over the Christmas break - take the time to recharge your batteries!

We would encourage you to do a little reading over the 2 weeks so the children maintain their fluency and make a smooth return to school on Tuesday 4th January. Please note that the Year 1/2 emails will not be monitored over the holiday period.

We wish you all an amazing Christmas, a wonderful New Year and look forward to seeing you all next term!

Best wishes

Mr Jude, Mrs Yuille, Mrs O'Connor & Miss Langley

Amethyst, Diamond & Emerald Class Blog - Friday 10th December 2021

 Happy Friday everybody! We have been very busy in Key Stage 1 putting the finishing touches to our Christmas Production and are so very excited to welcome an audience into the hall to watch next week!

Christmas Production

Don't forget, our shows are on the following dates:

• Wednesday 15th December at 9:30am
• Thursday 16th December at 9:30am

On Monday, your child will come home with programmes which will act as your ticket. Please check you have the day you were expecting! The performance will take place in the hall via the side doors which will be accessed from the school car park in Brooklyn Drive. If you are unsure where this is please ask us at the end of the day. The performance should last around 20-30 minutes. We cannot emphasize just how glad we are to able to share this with you after such a strange year!

Christmas Jumper Day - Friday 10th December

All the children looked fab today in their Christmas jumpers. In class today, we read our latest letter from Thoko, the girl from Malawi which the money raised today will sponsor for another year's education. It is lovely to hear about the things that she can do and the hopes that she has for the future now that she is in full time education.

We will be keeping the Christmas jumpers in school for next week so we can wear them whenever we now practice and perform our show.

Maths Homework

This week we would like you to look at pages 28-29.

For Year 1's this is looking at subtraction. Again, take the time to do lots of practical taking away using different everyday objects and verbalise the process clearly. There are lots of practical games on Top Marks if you wish to consolidate these skills further:

https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/5-7-years/addition-and-subtraction

For Year 2's this is looking at multiplication. There is an expectation that by the end of Year 2, children are fluent in the multiplication facts for the 2, 5 and 10 times tables. Just like reading, practising these times tables little and often helps embed understanding. There are lots of games on Top Marks to further explore these ideas:

https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/5-7-years/times-tables

Don't forget to keep up all your fantastic efforts with your reading at home. We cannot emphasize how important to your child's general progress in all aspects of their learning regular reading is. It remains one of the simplest and most impactful things you can do to support your child's education at home. We are still updating the Big Cat online library for all our children as they move up reading levels, so don't forget to use this resource if it is useful to you.

As always, we are available on our Key Stage 1 email. However, we are also available if you have any quick questions at the end of the day on the playground. Just give us a wave and we will pop over! 

ks1@downhallprimary.com

Have a great "not long to go now!" weekend!

Much love

Your Key Stage 1 Team

Amethyst, Diamond & Emerald Blog - Friday 3rd December 2021

 Happy Friday everybody! So let us cut straight to the chase - we are very excited to tell you that we are planning to share our Christmas Production with you all in 2 weeks time!

Christmas Production

You should have been emailed a letter on Wednesday explaining our arrangements for sharing our Christmas Production with you. 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DzjOwt8GIfwdOt9SMEeqhLhzzNWMSVh4/view?usp=sharing

We have spent the last week practicing in the hope we would be able to go ahead with this and it is with fingers firmly crossed that we have set the following dates:

• Wednesday 15th December at 9:30am
• Thursday 16th December at 9:30am

There will be 2 tickets allocated per family. Please email us on our usual address (also at the end of this post) which day you would like your tickets to be allocated to. You can, if you wish, choose to have 1 ticket for Wednesday and 1 for Thursday or both on the same day. We will allocate and confirm dates at the end of each school day on a first come first served basis. Programmes, which will act as your ticket, will be sent home at the beginning of the last week of school in time for the performances.

It will be so lovely to welcome you all back into the school for such a special occasion!

Christmas Jumper Day - Friday 10th December

Article 28 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child states that "All children have a right to an education." We take this right very seriously at Down Hall and just over 3 years ago, the School Council chose to raise money to sponsor a child to go to school who currently did not have this right.

We are now in our 4th year of sponsoring Thoko, a girl from Malawi, to go to school. It is through wearing our Christmas jumpers and making a donation on this day that pays for Thoko's education for the whole year! So feel very festive in your Christmas jumper on Friday but also feel very proud when you make your suggested £1 donation that you are making a massive impact on the life of another child.

You can read an update on our School Council activities here.

Remember, your child is wearing normal school uniform except for a Christmas jumper on this day. In Key Stage 1, we also use our Christmas jumpers in our Christmas production so if the children could bring in a named plastic bag as well on Friday, at the end of the day we will ask them to put their jumper into this bag so we can keep it in school for a production in the following week.

Please bear this in mind when getting dressed for school on Friday and ensure that your child has something underneath their Christmas jumper to come home in. 

Maths Homework

This week we would like you to look at pages 26-27.

For Year 1's this is looking at addition. Take the time to do lots of practical adding using different everyday objects and verbalise the process clearly. There are lots of practical games on Top Marks if you wish to consolidate these skills further:

https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/5-7-years/addition-and-subtraction

For Year 2's this is looking at inverse operations. Addition and subtraction are the opposite or inverse of each other. So if we know that 25 + 12 = 37 then it follows that 37 - 12 = 25. It is good to go through the process of solving these calculations to prove this relationship and consolidate learning. Again there are lots of games on Top Marks to further explore these ideas:

https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/5-7-years/addition-and-subtraction

Don't forget to keep up all your fantastic efforts with your reading at home. We cannot emphasize how important to your child's general progress in all aspects of their learning regular reading is. It remains one of the simplest and most impactful things you can do to support your child's education at home. We are still updating the Big Cat online library for all our children as they move up reading levels, so don't forget to use this resource if it is useful to you.

As always, we are available on our Key Stage 1 email. If you have any questions or concerns about anything, please just ask and we will get back to you as soon as we can.

ks1@downhallprimary.com

Have a "beginning to look a lot like Christmas" weekend!

Much love

Your Key Stage 1 Team

Amethyst, Diamond & Emerald Blog - Friday 26th November 2021

 Happy Friday, everybody! It has been another busy week in KS1. We have been working on our multiplication and problem solving skills in Maths and looking at how streets and towns have changed over the last 10 000 years in English. We have also been enjoying looking at Victorian toys which we have on loan from Chelmsford Museum, and thinking about how they are similar and different to the toys we have today.

Maths Homework

This week we would like you to look at pages 24-25.

For Year 1's this is looking at add, subtract and equals. It is important to discuss the different words we use that are represented by these symbols. For example:

• +   add, plus, total, more
• -    take away, subtract, minus, less
• =   equals, the same as

As well as page  25, try recording some practical adding and subtraction using these signs. Below are some links to a way of visually showing this approach too:

https://www.topmarks.co.uk/addition/addition-to-10

https://www.topmarks.co.uk/subtraction/subtraction-to-10

For Year 2's this is looking at subtraction. We can use a similar approach to solving subtraction calculations as addition. The most important thing to remember is that we only draw the first amount and take away the second amount from this:

If we have an instance where there are not enough ones to take away, we cross out a ten to turn into 10 ones:

Practice this approach when working on the calculations on page 25. You can also try the subtraction version of the game from last week to continue to develop your child's mental maths skills.

https://www.arcademics.com/games/mission

Don't forget to keep up all your fantastic efforts with your reading at home. We cannot emphasize how important to your child's general progress in all aspects of their learning regular reading is. It remains one of the simplest and most impactful things you can do to support your child's education at home. We are still updating the Big Cat online library for all our children as they move up reading levels, so don't forget to use this resource if it is useful to you.

Unite The Uniforms

On Friday 3rd December we will be taking part in the Unite The Uniforms campaign in honour of the millions of people who have served in the NHS and emergency services. Children are invited to come to school wearing the colours of the emergency services; red, blue, green or orange.  In class we will be thinking about how these people help us and why it is important to honour them.  We will make links to Children’s Rights and use our pupil voice to write letters of thanks, which we will send to our local services.  Suggested donation is £1, but please give as little or as much as you wish so that we can all join in the dressing up fun!  Donations will go towards building the UK’s first ‘Emergency Services Cenotaph’.

Home Learning

If for any reason your child is unable to attend school and you are looking for work to complete, then please visit the Children's Hub page on our school website. Follow the link below and then scroll down to see links to some websites that will help you support your child's learning. There are links here to our Big Cat e-library, White Rose maths and Oak Academy. 

https://sites.google.com/downhallprimary.com/learninghub/

There are also suggestions for work you can do from Oak Academy and White Rose in a document named Home Learning - December 2021 in our Home Learning folder, which you can access here:

https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/folders/149knm9VCVEVTwzWMwMeYzOGkF3RP-sOg

As always, we are available on our Key Stage 1 email. If you have any questions or concerns about anything, please just ask and we will get back to you as soon as we can.

ks1@downhallprimary.com

Have an awesome weekend!

Much love

Your Key Stage 1 Team

Amethyst, Diamond & Emerald Blog - Friday 19th November 2021

 Happy Friday, everybody - we truly hope you are all keeping healthy! Pyjama Day has been met with great excitement today with everyone looking amazing in their bedtime clothes and we have raised some money for a very important cause. We have all enjoyed our special Children in Need workout with Joe Wicks and learnt about the work that Children in Need do, relating this to our rights.

Home Learning

If for any reason your child is unable to attend school and you are looking for work to complete, then please visit the Children's Hub page on our school website. Follow the link below and then scroll down to see links to some websites that will help you support your child's learning. There are links here to our Big Cat e-library, White Rose maths and Oak Academy. 

For White Rose, click on the Home Learning tab and then select the appropriate Year group and week from the list that will appear. There are videos that you can work through together. 

Again, for Oak Academy click Lessons; Subjects; Key Stage 1 and then there will a huge range of lessons for you to choose from.

We hope you can find things here that will engage and support your child whilst they are away from school or, even, if they wish to do extra work at home!

https://sites.google.com/downhallprimary.com/learninghub/

There are also suggestions for work you can do from Oak Academy and White Rose in a document named Home Learning - November 2021 in our Home Learning folder, which you can access here:

https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/folders/149knm9VCVEVTwzWMwMeYzOGkF3RP-sOg

Maths Homework

This week we would like you to look at pages 22-23.

For Year 1's this is looking at number bonds to 20. Look for the ways this relates to last week's work on number bonds to 10. The web site below is a way to visualise this. Drag out 20 red counters and then explore flipping some to yellow. Look at the combination of numbers you can get. Can you spot the patterns?

https://www.didax.com/apps/two-color-counters/

For Year 2's this is looking at addition. We have talked before about how we can split numbers into tens and ones and represent these with annotations. This can help us when working out addition calculations:

Practice this approach when working on the calculations on page 23. Being able to add smaller numbers mentally is also an important skill to practice. Try the game below to help improve your child's mental addition skills.

https://www.arcademics.com/games/alien

Don't forget to keep up all your fantastic efforts with your reading at home. We are still updating the Big Cat online library for all our children as they move up reading levels, so don't forget to use this resource if it is useful to you.

As always, we are available on our Key Stage 1 email. If you have any questions or concerns about anything, please just ask and we will get back to you as soon as we can.

ks1@downhallprimary.com

Have a healthy weekend!

Mr Jude, Mrs Yuille, Mrs O'Connor & Miss Langley

Amethyst, Diamond & Emerald Blog - Friday 12th November 2021

 Happy Friday everybody! We hope you are feeling well and have had a lovely week. This week in Key Stage 1 we have been looking at the story "Rosie's Walk" and making changes to it to create our own zig zag books. We have also been practicing our addition skills in maths.

Odd Socks Day - Monday 15th November

On Monday, we are participating in "Odd Socks Day" to mark Anti-Bullying Week. Taking part could not be simpler - all your child needs to do (and you if you feel inclined!) is wear odd socks to school on Monday! In class, we will be exploring the theme of "One Kind Word" and linking this message to our Right to having the best possible health, including mental health (Article 24).

Children In Need - Friday 19th November

This year to celebrate Children in Need, we will be having a pyjama day at school on Friday 19th November. Children can wear their favourite PJs to school, however please remember that all children still need to wear sensible outdoor shoes so that they will be safe going outside, and to also bring a coat.

The children will be taking part in fun activities during the day, with prizes and rewards to be won. Suggested donation is £1 per child to raise money for such a great cause, but you can give more if you wish. There will be a bucket for donations at the gate during morning drop off. 

Children in Need has strong links to our work on SMSC and RRS.  We will be looking at the charities that Children in Need supports and making specific links to the Spiritual and Social threads of SMSC and to the following RRS Articles :

Article 1: All children under 18 have all the rights in the convention. 

Article 23: Any child with a disability must be provided with support so they can live as fully and independently as possible. 

Article 27: All children have the right to a good standard of living which meets their physical, social and mental needs. 

We thank you for taking part and can’t wait to see everyone in their favourite PJs!  If you want to find out more you can check out all of the information here.

Together we can change young lives - BBC Children in Need

Home Learning

If for any reason your child is unable to attend school and you are looking for work to complete, then please visit the Children's Hub page on our school website. Follow the link below and then scroll down to see links to some websites that will help you support your child's learning. There are links here to our Big Cat e-library, White Rose maths and Oak Academy. 

For White Rose, click on the Home Learning tab and then select the appropriate Year group and week from the list that will appear. There are videos that you can work through together. 

Again, for Oak Academy click Lessons; Subjects; Key Stage 1 and then there will a huge range of lessons for you to choose from.

We hope you can find things here that will engage and support your child whilst they are away from school or, even, if they wish to do extra work at home!

https://sites.google.com/downhallprimary.com/learninghub/

There are also suggestions for work you can do from Oak Academy and White Rose in our Home Learning folder, which you can access here:

https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/folders/149knm9VCVEVTwzWMwMeYzOGkF3RP-sOg

Maths Homework

This week we would like you to look at pages 20-21.

For Year 1's this is looking at number bonds to 10. As well as going through the pages in the book, make collections of 10 objects. Hide some and see if your child can work out how many are hidden based upon how many they can see. Below are a couple of games which also explore the concept of number bonds.

https://www.topmarks.co.uk/Flash.aspx?f=WaystoMake

https://pbskids.org/curiousgeorge/busyday/ten/

For Year 2's this is looking at number bonds and how addition and subtraction are related. One of the most important aspects of maths is how operations such as addition and subtraction are the opposite or inverse of each other. We can use this to help us. So if we know 4+13=17, then we also know that 17-13=4. After working on the pages have a look at this game for further exploring this idea.

https://www.topmarks.co.uk/number-facts/number-fact-families

Don't forget to keep up all your fantastic efforts with your reading at home. We are still updating the Big Cat online library for all our children as they move up reading levels, so don't forget to use this resource if it is useful to you.

As always, we are available on our Key Stage 1 email. If you have any questions or concerns about anything, please just ask and we will get back to you as soon as we can.

ks1@downhallprimary.com

Have a healthy weekend!

Mr Jude, Mrs Yuille, Mrs O'Connor & Miss Langley

Amethyst, Diamond & Emerald Blog - Friday 5th November 2021

 Happy Friday, everybody - we hope you are all doing well! It has been lovely to welcome all the children back after half term and hear about all the exciting things they have been up to during their time off!

Poppies

Next week, the children will have the opportunity to purchase poppies within class. As well as the poppies, there are some other Royal British Legion merchandise (such as key rings, wrist bands and stationery) which can be purchased. The suggested donation for these items are 50p for a poppy and £1 for other items. If you wish your child to get any of these, then please send them in with their money any day next week.

New Collection Arrangements

From today there will be a slight change to the collection arrangements at the end of the day. At 2:55pm, parents will be invited onto the playground by the Down Hall Park Way entrance. Please wait opposite your child's class line and the teachers will send your child to you as we see you.

School Council Elections

Article 12 of the UNCRC (United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child) states that every child has the right to have their voices heard in matters that affect them. With this in mind we cannot wait to get the School Council up and running so that our children can share ideas, take discussions back to classes and ALL children can be involved in decision making in a democratic way. A huge well done to everyone brave enough to put themselves forward. Classes have now voted and the results have been counted! Congratulations to our new School Councillors:

Amethyst: Ivy

Diamond: Eliza

Emerald: Peony

We know you will do a great job of representing your classmates in meetings and keeping us informed. The first meeting will take place very soon!

WHOLE SCHOOL ENGLAND SUMDOG CONTEST

Calling all of you amazing mathematicians! 

You have been entered into the Sumdog England Competition. It starts on Friday 5 November at 3.30pm, and finishes at 3.30pm on Thursday 11th November at 9am

Why not have a go and get your class on the school leaderboard?

I will be monitoring how well each class is doing. The winning class will get extra playtime!

Let's show our school what great mathematicians we are!

Good luck.

Mrs Hurley 

Maths Homework

This week we would like you to look at pages 18-19.

For Year 1's this is looking at ordinal numbers and patterns. Look at how we represent first, second and third with 1st, 2nd and 3rd. Create your own simple patterns and then ask which shape is 6th in the pattern? Where are the triangles in the pattern? Below is a link to a game to explore patterns and a chance to use ordinal numbers to describe these patterns.

https://www.topmarks.co.uk/ordering-and-sequencing/shape-patterns

For Year 2's this is looking at solving worded number problems. This is an extremely important aspect of maths as it is where we use maths skills the majority of the time in our lives. Think about the operation that you need to solve the problem (addition or subtraction) and the language clues that help you know which one to use (altogether +; left -). If you want to explore some more examples of worded problems, have a look at the following websites:

https://www.prodigygame.com/main-en/blog/math-word-problems/#addition

https://www.education.com/slideshow/easy-word-problems/simple-word-problems-2/

Don't forget to keep up all your fantastic efforts with your reading at home. We are still updating the Big Cat online library for all our children as they move up reading levels, so don't forget to use this resource if it is useful to you.

As always, we are available on our Key Stage 1 email. If you have any questions or concerns about anything, please just ask and we will get back to you as soon as we can.

ks1@downhallprimary.com

Have a great weekend!

Mr Jude, Mrs Yuille, Mrs O'Connor & Miss Langley